


We Care Not

by AHeartForStories



Series: We Care Not [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Heartbreak, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Famine - Freeform, Minor Character Death, OCs - Freeform, Whump, headcanon for another reason why the kids bullied hiccup, httyd 1, httyd ocs, i guess, mentions of bullying, mentions of disease, mentions of illness, mentions of raids, minor httyd ocs, set during httyd 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-07 22:53:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21465847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: On Berk, children quickly learned that their friends weren't there to stay. Harsh Winters, famines, illnesses, dragons, so many of them barely even made it to the age of ten. And sure, Hiccup made it to the age of fifteen. But why should the other remaining five care about him? He was a runt, destined to be taken from them sooner or later. Why open up their hearts to him, why care, when all that would lead to is even more hurt?
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Fishlegs Ingerman, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Ruffnut Thorston, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Snotlout Jorgenson, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Tuffnut Thorston
Series: We Care Not [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771213
Comments: 18
Kudos: 218





	We Care Not

**Author's Note:**

> Had this one sitting in my list of "fics to post" for ages because I was never sure if I should post it. Not quite sure whether this one counts as whump or not either. Or how to even properly tag this one.  
Constructive criticism is highly appreciated.  
Enjoy!

Astrid remembered having a friend once. A dear friend.

She was four, like Astrid was at the time. Their birth had been almost days apart. Because of this, they celebrated them together.

Her hair was as black as charred wood and ended at her shoulders, just like her mother's. It wasn't often Vikings kept their hair short, but they did. Her eyes were a clear blue, like a rare sunny sky. She was the most fun of all her friends.

Second only to Hiccup, who could draw and made such pretty pictures with charcoal and paper, with sticks and in dirt.

Named Unn, she always came up with the most fun games. Her energy was endless and she never failed to make them all laugh. The memories Astrid kept of her, they were bright. The few times she took a moment to remember her, she would smile.

Unn was small, though. Her legs and arms were as spindly as thin tree branches. Or more like twigs. Not as small as Hiccup, but there was barely a difference between the two. She wasn't even an inch taller than him and everybody was taller than him.

Sometimes they played on the plaza, other times they played in the forest right outside the village, the beach was also a fun place to be. When they were daring enough, they would even go up to Mildew's cabbage patch at the edges of the village. It was always Unn who suggested teasing the old man. He was mean to the village children.

She was an innocent girl. A playful girl.

When her life was taken, it was during a raid. Not by dragons, but by other people. The Winterbeards, a tribe of hardened Norsemen and women who sought resources that they didn't have and stole them from other islands.

Astrid didn't know until the morning after the fighting. When those that couldn't defend themselves, like them, were allowed out of hiding and she wondered why Unn and her mother never joined them in the Great Hall.

She never got to say goodbye. They never got to play again. So sudden had Unn been taken away from her.

* * *

There was once a little boy on Berk by the name of Ivar and he was Snotlout's best friend. Strong, husky, boisterous, he was the dream son any Viking couple would've loved to have. He was a big one ever since the day of his birth.

The two of them were always up to no good. They'd get in trouble, either with Mildew or other Vikings on Berk. Several times they had also sought out the dangers in the forests outside of the village. Usually ended up running at the smallest of sounds too.

Out of all his friends, Snotlout thought he was the best.

There was a harsh Winter one time. Not the harshest ever, but harsh enough. On their island, that particular season was followed by an Eel Pox epidemic. Every single year, again and again, without fail.

Little Ivar got sick. Many of the Hooligans did. It took Gothi much too long to receive the ingredients necessary for a cure. More than half of the crew send out with a longboat to gather them got sick on the way, delaying their journey further.

One afternoon six-year-old Snotlout walked up to Ivar's house to ask if he was all better and if he could come out to play yet. What he found were two mourning parents instead.

Neither Ivar, nor his little sister, Inge, had made it.

* * *

The Thorston twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, they once had an older brother.

Like most Nuts, that is exactly what his name ended on. The thing with him was, his name was Nutnut. "Nut The Nut" they used to call him. Or simply, "Nut" for short.

He wasn't like other Thorstons. He wasn't the epitome of chaos and trouble. In fact, he was quite calm. Shy even! When the twins were five, Nutnut was already on his way to puberty.

He was a caring big brother. Always looked out for his younger siblings, got them out of any trouble they may end up in, made sure they ate and washed and slept on time. The twins were a handful and they knew it. When their mother needed a helping hand, with no supportive fathers in their lives, Nut was always there. He was a loving son.

During one bad dragon raid, Nut couldn't find his siblings.

Unaware of the dangers they were putting themselves in, Ruff and Tuff followed the fire brigade around instead of staying hidden like all the others who were told to hide.

Nut spend so long finding them, evading dragons and their fire left and right until he was unfortunate enough to cross paths with a Monstrous Nightmare in a ruined part of the village where there were no adults around.  
There wasn't enough left to identify him with.

* * *

Fishlegs' interest for books and dragons, it was greatly influenced by another girl in the village.

Dagny was a cousin of his and like many of the members in his family, she was a hefty girl. Vikings would say she had the promise to be a brawny one later in life, but she was much more of a brainy one instead.

Families were close on Berk and Dagny often read books together with Fishlegs and his older sister, who often told them many stories. Dagny and Fishlegs were of the same age. Dagny was only a few weeks older.

Nobody talks about Dagny anymore. Her passing due to a famine caused by the dragons was a painful one. Dagny's parents, they didn't last long after her death. Many believed they followed her to the next world, a broken heart too much to bear.

* * *

There were twenty-five of them. That Winter, Hiccup was the first of twenty-five babies born the following twenty-four months.

A lot of them didn't make it to their first year. More died by the time they were five. When Hiccup reached the age of ten, once again the first of that season, the six of them were all that remained.

It didn't hurt. At some point, waking up one morning and finding out another friend had died became commonplace.

They took it as a lesson. A lesson that caring hurt far worse than not caring did.

And so they all stopped.

"Guys!"

Astrid remembered having a friend once. A dear friend. Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, they all remembered.

His name was Hiccup. He was fun, he could draw, he was really smart, but he was also small.

He was born too early. When a famine struck he was always one of those most affected. Every year during "Eel Pox Week", Gothi called it a miracle he wasn't taken back by the Gods. With each new attack by either dragon or man, he needed to hide because he couldn't defend himself. Unlike the other kids, he couldn't even lift up a bola. He was the most defenseless.

He was the next one. They were all sure of it.

"Guys?" On his eight birthday, three years after Snotlout started picking on him and two years before their very last friend died, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut also decided to stop playing with him.

It was easier to stop caring for him than it was to care and lose him too.

Hiccup met them on the plaza that day, as he always did once his father finally let him go.

They didn't listen to his calls, ignored his requests to play, they pretended he didn't exist at all as they walked away.

The following days and onwards, he would notice they were starting to be mean to him too. Like Uncle Spitelout and some of the other adults.

There was little Hiccup could do, but watch them leave him behind as they decided to play elsewhere. Away from him. And it hurt.

* * *

The remaining oldest children of Berk, now all fifteen and fourteen years of age, they met up to train together in the woods. They'd seen Astrid go there to practice with her axe and simply followed her there. Dragon training was about to begin for them soon, they wanted to train too.

Although, for the twins and Snotlout that meant fooling around. For Fishlegs, it wasn't so much as "training" as it was avoiding the three others as they picked on him.

As for Astrid, she didn't get much done when the other teens refused to leave her alone.

As they made their way back home, practice quickly forgotten, Astrid's gaze caught the sight of Hiccup as he worked at the forge as Gobber's apprentice.

Her axe swung over one shoulder, she took a moment to watch as he gathered some swords and struggled to hold them all in his arms.

When they fell, he threw his arms up in exasperation and Astrid felt a sigh escape her. A sigh of disappointment.

Briefly, their eyes met and Hiccup froze up. He only stood there for about a solid second before he ducked behind the counter awkardly. Either to hide or pick up the swords he'd dropped.

When was the last time they'd talked? Not as friends, but as mere acquaintances?

Astrid realized she didn't care. She didn't mourn the friendship they used to have and lost so many years ago now.

She didn't care. None of them did.

Hiccup was going to die sooner or later. All their previous friends had and many of them had been much bigger and stronger than him. Being friends with the heir only meant pain in the future. It was easier not too care.

She joined the other teens again. The ones who made an inkling of a chance of making it to adulthood in this world. She wouldn't say she was friends with them, but they were all headed into the same direction and they were about the only others of her age. Who else was she going to hang out with?

They were heading towards the Great Hall for supper. They headed there, not knowing that this would be the night Hiccup would shoot down a Night Fury, changing Berk for the better.


End file.
